Ran over deer with mower....ugh.

[Richard]

Yesterday, was out cutting a field that hasn't been cut in over a year. Weeds are/were six feet high in some areas.

I came around for my second or third pass.... and saw a deer laying there. It had been run over on the prior pass. Wasn't a pretty site.

I'm a bit dumbfounded. I've had deer lay still until I get right on them and they then suddenly bolt away. I stopped to look at this one wondering if it was just extra dumb. I saw what appeared to be some antlers on it (but might have been a bone that got mangled with the blades)

I got to thinking.... will the bucks try to stay still & hidden or (my guess) did someone shoot the deer (wound) and it meandered away..... died where I found it. I'm thinking that's more plausible than me literally running it over, especially an adult. If someone shot it and it ran....there is no way they would find it in this forest that was growing up.

Also.... there were a couple flies milling about the mouth. I'm deducing if I had run over it while alive, the flies wouldn't have time to find it in the 10/15 minutes it took me to circle the field and return.

Can't decide if I want to let nature deal with the carcas or take backhoe back out there and bury it. Won't be able to do that until next weekend anyway so it's a bit of a moot point.

 

[Hay Dude]

Yesterday, was out cutting a field that hasn't been cut in over a year. Weeds are/were six feet high in some areas.

I came around for my second or third pass.... and saw a deer laying there. It had been run over on the prior pass. Wasn't a pretty site.

I'm a bit dumbfounded. I've had deer lay still until I get right on them and they then suddenly bolt away. I stopped to look at this one wondering if it was just extra dumb. I saw what appeared to be some antlers on it (but might have been a bone that got mangled with the blades)

I got to thinking.... will the bucks try to stay still & hidden or (my guess) did someone shoot the deer (wound) and it meandered away..... died where I found it. I'm thinking that's more plausible than me literally running it over, especially an adult. If someone shot it and it ran....there is no way they would find it in this forest that was growing up.

Also.... there were a couple flies milling about the mouth. I'm deducing if I had run over it while alive, the flies wouldn't have time to find it in the 10/15 minutes it took me to circle the field and return.

Can't decide if I want to let nature deal with the carcas or take backhoe back out there and bury it. Won't be able to do that until next weekend anyway so it's a bit of a moot point.

I have run over quite a few fawns over the years. Usually anything over a month-2 old will run.
This year was the first year ever that I ran over and killed a fox. I think it may have been rabid.

 

[CliffordK]

A little late now, but you should be able to tell if the carcass is warm or cold.

Flies won't be bothering it much unless it has been dead for a while. Unless they are just something like horse flies or deer flies that will bite a living animal.

Or, perhaps it was really sick or injured. Emaciated?

 

[9973720wb19]

mom will leave the babies to feed - mom needs a break to get some food for themselves. baby stays in one (assumed safe) spot until mom returns. that's why it did not move...

 

[sea2summit]

Since it’s hunting season in most of the country is it possible someone got a bad shot on it and it didn’t expire until it got to where you ran over it?

 

[Richard]

Or, perhaps it was really sick or injured. Emaciated?

One wing of my 15' mower ran over it. Hard to tell if it was sick. It was beyond injured. Rather than emaciated, it had a mangled and diced look about it. Was unfortunate to see. one of those things I'd be ok if I could 'un-see' it.

Since it’s hunting season in most of the country is it possible someone got a bad shot on it and it didn’t expire until it got to where you ran over it?

This is what I'm thinking (hoping). Would have been a horrible way to go if the blades did it.

Again, it looked like it had antlers. If that's accurate (I didn't dismount to look) then would a buck tend to stay still? Blades cut to 4'ish inch height. difficult for me to believe it quietly held its position til its demise. It was not a little deer (newborn or 'teenager')

Guess if I get out there next weekend or so.... most if it will likely still be there so I can bury it and look a bit closer (to see if antlers were indeed present)

 

[CliffordK]

mom will leave the babies to feed - mom needs a break to get some food for themselves. baby stays in one (assumed safe) spot until mom returns. that's why it did not move...

This certainly isn't fawn season around here. While there may still be some fawns following their mothers around, they are large enough to forage on their own and to run very quickly.

Antlers may help identify whether or not it was shot.

 

[Jstpssng]

Was there much blood? A dead animal won't bleed.

 

[Sprinkler Fitter]

Was there much blood? A dead animal won't bleed.

The highway sure gets bloody while everyone runs over a dead deer though.

 

[5030]

1. Let it lay. Will make a good dinner for any predators like Coyotes you have around. Will be gone right quick like.

2. I gobble them up regularly when cutting hay, especially first cut and the crimp rolls on the disc mower really 'puree' them, quite well, as in homogenized and they have always vanished in a day or 2, once the yotes get done. The disc bine don't care what it eats, all good with it, besides, I cannot stop that fast anyway. By the time I see them. it's too late. Not just deer either. Wood chucks, possums and various other things, game birds included and they all get pureed.

The mower is equal opportunity with everything that gets in the blades or squeezed through the crimp rolls.